This course examines psychopathology from infancy through early adolescence. The paradigm of developmental psychopathology, or articulating the role of time and change in childhood disturbances, is an important focus of the class. Using this frame, the following areas are examined: clinical assessment of psychosocial problems in childhood; diagnostic systems for conceptualizing childhood psychopathology; and understanding disturbances of childhood through the lenses of intrapsychic, interpersonal, and the historical context. While students doing child and family therapy are encouraged to consider this class, those without a child or adolescent in their caseload may participate.

This course is designed to provide an in-depth survey of current theory and practice of clinical psychopharmacology. Pharmacotherapy has become increasingly important in the practice of clinical psychology, and all clinicians need to know and understand drug actions and reactions. The growing movement for prescribing privileges for appropriately trained clinical psychologists is a reflection of this trend. We begin in this course with the principles of pharmacology, which consist of pharmacokinetics (the absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination of drugs) and pharmacodynamics (drug-receptor interactions). After study of the principles of pharmacology, the class will review individual classes of drugs, including antidepressants, antipsychotics, anti-anxiety agents, drugs for the treatment of movement disorders, and drugs for the treatment of cognitive disorders in the elderly. For each drug class, the basic biology of the disorder and the mechanisms of drug action are discussed, followed by a review of current clinical practice and potential new drugs. Other topics in the drug literature are addressed, including the use of medication with different age groups, sources of drug information, the FDA drug review process, drug-drug interactions, and pharmacoepidemiology.

PYC 706
Advanced Seminar: Cognitive-Behavior Therapy
Competency Area: Clinical Techniques and Methods/Intervention
Restricted to Year III and Year IV students.
Priority to Year IV students.
Up to two Special Student seats available, by written permission of the Director of Student Affairs, if space is available.

This course begins with an overview of conceptual foundations underlying behavioral and cognitive approaches to assessment and treatment. We will proceed to examine several techniques associated with the Cognitive-Behavioral spectrum, including schema analysis and other cognitive formulations, cognitive restructuring, and (toward the more behavioral end of the spectrum), functional analysis, exposure treatment, and contingency management. Students will be introduced to CBT protocols for treatment of depression, various anxiety disorders, and personality disorders. Throughout, we will attend to the conceptualization and role of the therapeutic relationship in CBT. Finally, we will explore some more recent developments that have begun to stretch the boundaries of CBT, to target relational and spiritual themes.

This applied seminar explores the diversity of experiences and professional opportunities available for the psychoanalytic practitioner. Clinical, personal, social, and organizational events will be discussed from a comparative framework that reflects the ferment and vitality of current theories and practices within psychoanalysis. The emphasis will be on the conceptualization and communication of psychoanalytically informed knowledge and process in a wide variety of practice situations (e.g., evaluation, administration and management, leadership development, supervision, consultation, education, research, and treatment). The goal is to develop and enhance the necessary skills for becoming an effective local clinical psychoanalyst.

This is a skills-based seminar where students learn to combine different theoretical orientations and therapy techniques to provide maximally effective help. While based on theoretical and research literature, the focus is on the development of therapy integration skills. Integrative techniques will be drawn from the cognitive-behavioral, psychodynamic, psychophysiological, and spiritual conceptualizations of emotional recovery. Clinical areas to be covered include depression, anxiety, trauma, eating disorders, and borderline personality disorder.

This course integrates theory and practice of interventions for child and adolescent problems. A variety of theoretical models, empirically supported treatments, and treatment modalities are presented. Students learn specific techniques to enhance communication with children and adolescents, so that they can successfully apply a variety of interventions in their work. The need to work cooperatively with parents, schools, and pediatricians is addressed. By the end of this course, students will be able to design and implement treatment programs for children and adolescents that are consistent with their assessment data and case conceptualization.

This seminar provides an overview of the theoretical foundation and critical concepts of object relations theory. It is designed to give the student a significant grasp of personality structure, dynamics and development within an object relational framework. The seminar is intended to provide students with a lens through which they can consider case conceptualization and treatment issues applicable to various clinical problems, settings, and populations. It offers students a personal opportunity to bring dimension and understanding to their clinical work as they explore, in depth, the application of Object Relations theory to clinical practice.

During this year students will have an intensive small group supervisory experience with faculty. Emphasis is on case presentations, including video and audio tapes, with a goal of examining students’ clinical work.

This course offers students a further intensive small group clinical experience for fourth year students. Emphasis is on case presentations, including audio and/or videotapes, with a goal of examining students’ clinical work. This course may be taken in place of an Advanced Seminar.

This course examines current cognitive, social cognitive, and cognitive constructivist/constructionist theories both with regard to their particular implications and as metatheories. Topics in cognitive psychology include history of the cognitive position; social cognition; cognitive science and its application to the clinical enterprise; the mainstream cognitive positions; cognitivism and constructionism; development; memory; emotion; dynamic psychology and cognition; cognitive self processes, and constructionist views of diversity. (This course is not a course on cognitive therapy.)

PY 812A
Consultation: Theory and Practice I
Competency Area: Consultation & Education
Required of and Restricted to Year III students.

This course examines the role of psychologists as consultants in mental health settings and in the community. A variety of consulting experience is explored including case consultation, participation in interdisciplinary teams, and the psychologist as expert in dealing with diverse individuals, groups, and organizations. The course examines issues of contacting, data gathering, diagnosis, intervention, evaluation, and follow-up. Implications of the consultant’s role in education, training, and organizational development are addressed. Participants have the opportunity to apply consultation skills in experiential exercises and also examine the possible consultancy aspect of their practicum role.

This course presents an approach to addressing issues of sociocultural diversity and social concerns of justice and professional responsibility. While informed by feminist, multicultural and post-colonial theories, this course moves away from an identity-specific approach and instead applies an interpretive (hermeneutic) and procedural framework to the enhancement of mutual understandings across seemingly noncommensurate social conflicts.

Competency Area: Research & Inquiry
Required of and Restricted to Year III students.

The aim of this two-year long sequence is to facilitate students’ development and completion of a doctoral dissertation. During this first semester the emphasis is on helping each student to select a topic which touches upon a theme or area of genuine interest or concern, and to design a realistic dissertation proposal using appropriate methodology. The instructor for each section will also serve as the Chair of the Dissertation Committee for members of the section.

Incorporation of Ericksonian-style hypnosis in the process of psychotherapy is featured throughout the weekend of instruction, demonstration, and practice. Special emphasis will be placed on utilization of ego-states resources in effecting trauma depotentiation and reframing.

PY 859B
Fundamental Clinical Skills I
Competency Area: Relationship
Required of and Restricted to Year I students.

This course addresses the processes and skills required to establish and maintain a helping relationship. It emphasizes basic skills of listening and attending, focusing and probing, confrontation, and working with difficult clinical issues. It involves practice in interviewing and observing in various clinical issues.

Prior to graduation, each student must successfully complete an approved internship of 2,000 hours within 24 calendar months which meets the guidelines published by the Association of Psychology and Postdoctoral Internship Centers (APPIC) as well as the Council for the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology. Internship may be pursued in several formats: half-time during the fourth and fifth years; full time during the fifth year, etc. Fourth Year students should register for PY 896, Internship and Fifth Year + students should register for PY 897, Internship.

This course is a brief conceptual introduction to issues of work organizations and management. Students are exposed to various models of how organizations function, management, leadership, change, change agents, action research, work teams, and productivity. Part of the learning involves envisioning improved structures and relationships within the many workplace settings of psychologists.

PY 815C
Methods of Psychological Assessment I
Competency Area: Assessment
Required of and Restricted to Year I students.

This year-long sequence provides an introduction to the psychological assessment of individuals with a major focus on the role of psychological tests in personality assessment, but with attention also paid to psychoeducational and neuropsychological assessment. Students develop beginning competence in the administration, scoring, and interpretation of a standard battery of psychodiagnostic techniques (WAIS-III/WISC-IV/WPPSI-III, Bender Gestalt test, MMPI-2).

In the emerging field of positive psychology the focus is shifting from what is wrong with people to what is right. Helping people identify and use their strengths can help relieve suffering and improve everyday functioning. Through a combination of lecture and hands on positive psychology exercises participants will learn: the role of positive feelings, assessment of positive experiences, the latest research on happiness and life satisfaction, how to identify and use psychological strengths, the three paths to happiness, the powerful effects of optimism and how to develop it, and the role of positive psychology in health, families and work. In addition we will look at some of the exciting opportunities for research in positive psychology.

PY 880B
Professional Seminar I: Roles of Psychologists and Ethical Issues
Competency Area: Relationship & Intervention
Required of and Restricted to Year I students.

This first year of a two year sequence has as an important function helping students in joining the profession and becoming psychology graduate students at Antioch University New England. The focus of the first semester is on the many roles of psychologists; for the second semester it is on ethical and legal issues in the practice of psychology.

The year-long Professional Seminar continues to provide the setting for pursuing a number of related objectives, serving as a forum for examination of the students’ professional work and training. During this second year there is an emphasis on case conceptualization and on writing up case formulations. Students read about several different theoretical models and applications. There is a focus on student presentations and discussions.

PY 731
Psychopathology and Behavioral Disorders
Competency Area: Intervention
Required of and Restricted to Year I students.

This course emphasizes an integrated biopsychosociocultural model in understanding the etiology of psychopathology. After critiquing the assumptions and biases inherent in DSM-IV, it focuses on the diagnostic criteria for the most prevalent psychiatric disorders of adulthood and childhood, including: thought, mood, anxiety, substance abuse, memory, dissociative, eating, adjustment, personality, and sexual disorders. Through the use of clinical vignettes, students will further develop their capacity for making reliable differential diagnoses. In order to encompass a diversity of viewpoints, psychopathology is presented from biological, cognitive-behavioral, feminist, and psychodynamic perspectives.

PYC 700
Psychotherapeutic Intervention I: Individual and Family
Competency Area: Intervention
Required of and Restricted to Year I students.

This is the first part of a year-long course in psychotherapeutic intervention in both theory and practice with individual adults, families, and children. The goal is to develop a flexible, integrated style of conducting treatment, focusing on brief to mid-range treatments. Emphasis is on psychodynamic, cognitive, and systemic thinking. Selected clinical practice and process issues are considered across a variety of psychological disorders, including the therapist’s role, factors in change, diversity, gender effects, empirically supported therapies, and intervention duration and flexibility. Methods comprise readings, discussions, student and instructor presentations, sharing of relevant personal and professional experience, and skill practice.

PYS 775
Public Policy, Advocacy, and Health Service Delivery
Competency Area: Social Bases of Behavior
Required of and Restricted to Year III students.

This course presents theory, practice, and research applicable to understanding public policy and health service delivery systems, and to recognizing the manner in which these two areas are interrelated. This includes an advanced discussion of the professional psychologist as a change agent in the larger social, political, and economic contexts, and the professional psychologist’s roles within private and public sectors. An experiential approach will be utilized in order to create a context for these conversations and to achieve students’ learning objectives. Subjects included in the service delivery section are psychologists as managers, team learning, the effects of managed care on systems of service delivery, program outputs, client outcomes, empirically validated procedures, and budgets. In the Public Policy section of this course, students will form learning teams to construct a public policy agenda and then conduct research in order to inform and support the defined agenda. Teams will also formulate a public policy action plan. Issues included in this course are psychology in the public interest, the role of the social scientist, specific public policy issues affecting psychology, parity laws, and rural health.

PY 871
Research Methods and Statistics I
Competency Area: Research & Evaluation
Required of and Restricted to Year II students.

The Research Methods sequence surveys both qualitative and quantitative research strategies in psychology. Topics include philosophy of science, critical thinking, ethical and diversity considerations in research, basic descriptive and inferential (primarily univariate) statistics, evaluating psychosocial interventions, and the use of computers for data management and analysis. The goal of the course is to help students develop the interest and skills to undertake systematic inquiry in applied or theoretical domains. Completion of an introductory research course at the undergraduate level is assumed, though not required.

This course provides didactic and experiential training in the use of sandtray therapy in assessment and intervention. Underlying theory and empirical research on the use of sandtray technique in psychotherapy will be discussed. The development of sandtray materials, effective introduction to the client, and incorporation of the technique into ongoing psychotherapy will be covered. In addition, interpretive issues and approaches will be introduced as students experience their own process in the sand during this intensive course.

This is a specialized Practicum for students wishing to have further clinical training experience with a specific focus for a minimum of 80 hours per semester (Summer) and 100 hours per semester (Fall and Spring).

This course is restricted to Second, Third, and Fourth Year students and involves supervised teaching within the program. Students conduct background research, prepare material to teach, present the material, supervise small group activities, and grade course assignments, all under the supervision of the primary faculty person. NOTE: Students who have previously received credit for this course must register for PYE 890E, SIS: Applied Experience in Consultation & Education.

The SIS is for students who wish to have a directed learning experience focused on a specific project or area of interest.

Applied Experience SIS Topics

Often students in Year III & Year IV, who wish to have a directed learning experience of a practical nature focused on a specific project, elect an SIS in an Applied Experience in Clinical Psychology. These Applied Experience SIS are organized according to the NCSPP competency areas and are designed to more clearly reflect applied experience for transcript, licensure, and internship application information. Please be certain to include the title and competency areas on the SIS contract; course numbers will be assigned by the Registrar’s Office.

The SIS list of Advanced Supervised Study is for Year III and Year IV students who wish to have a directed learning experience in the core knowledge bases of psychology. These Advanced Supervised Study SIS are organized according to the NCSPP educational model requirements and are designed to more clearly reflect advanced study for transcript, licensure, and internship application information.

If you are planning an independent study, please register for a SIS on your registration form. However, an SIS contract must be submitted to the Registrar’s Office by December 1, 2006 in order for it to appear on your schedule or transcript. Please be sure to specify on the contract if the SIS will be used to fulfill a competency area or serve as a required course substitute, or as an elective. Contracts received after the December 1st deadline will be returned to you for registration in a subsequent semester (additional costs may apply). Credits will not appear on your schedule until the SIS contract(s) has been submitted to the Registrar’s Office, thus affecting your enrollment status and perhaps your financial aid eligibility.

Credits: Variable

PY 870
Tests and Measurements in Psychology
Competency Area: Assessment
Required of and Restricted to Year I students.

This course is an introductory survey of tests and measurements whose purpose is twofold. First, it provides the academic background for clinically oriented coursework in psychological testing. The psychometrics of tests and controversies around testing are discussed. Students learn to evaluate tests critically, and to select and implement an assessment battery. These topics make up approximately two-thirds of the course. Second, measurement knowledge provides a basis for students to apply themselves to a beginning level of understanding and application of the MMPI-2. Work on the MMPI-2 comprises the remaining one-third of the course.

This course helps students develop technical writing skills appropriate for doctoral level psychologists. We begin with an overview of basic writing skills, and then focus on more advanced skills such as integrating professional literature; writing logical, well-organized papers; and developing successful writing habits. The course also covers APA writing standards for professional reports, papers, dissertations, and general publications. Hands-on exercises help students immediately apply new skills. This course can be repeated for credit.

This course will start where Writing Workshop I left off. The student shall have the opportunity to learn more detailed information in each of the areas covered by the first Workshop, as well as be introduced to basic concepts of critical analysis. Course content will include a quick review of basic writing components (grammar, punctuation, structure, outlining, and APA style) covered in the first course. The instructor will then provide new information and concepts about each component, as well as an introduction to critical analysis (inductive and deductive reasoning, ambiguity and vagueness, testing the validity of an argument, etc.). In addition, the student will learn how to conceptualize, organize, and write his or her dissertation.